Richard Slaughter
Artistic Director of the company
Richard trained at the lower and upper Royal Ballet Schools before graduating to the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden in 1977. He twice won the Ursula Moreton Choreographic award and danced principal roles on tour with Ballet for All. He danced in most ballets in repertoire at Covent Garden before leaving to pursue a freelance career. He was a member of Werkcentrum Dans in Rotterdam and spent a year filming the Dark Crystal with The Muppets. He joined London City Ballet as a principal dancer to partner Ursula Hageli in Swan Lake on a tour of Norway, at the time when Princess Diana became patron of the company.
Ursula and Richard’s subsequent partnership lasted for twenty-one years when they were a couple much in demand on the international circuit dancing the major classical ballets and an enormous variety of roles, repertoire and new works. They were principal dancers of the Royal Ballet Education Unit and started Ballet Creations of London in 1989 with their first production: A Portrait of Anna Pavlova.Richard subsequently choreographed The Little Mermaid 1991, Cleopatra 1993 and the Gala Performance of Ballet. They maintained their educational work staging numerous workshop days and ballet productions for children. Richard choreographed for the National Youth Ballet, English Youth Ballet and the Bournemouth Ballet Club. Ballet Creations performances were given all over the UK and abroad, with appearances at the Barbican, Festival Hall and the Royal Albert Hall. He has produced and directed productions of Coppelia, The Nutcracker and The Sleeping Beauty and created new ballets Cinderella and The Snow Queen.
Richard is an associate teacher of the Imperial Society of Dancing, Cecchetti Method, and has an MA in dance studies from the Laban Centre and an MA in Spirituality from the University of Wales. He is currently a lecturer at Chichester University and ballet teacher at Mandaleigh Studios. He has been artistic director of The Ballet Pod since 2007. He is now also working as a care giver at ‘Home Instead’ -Chichester and Bognor Regis and has been working all through the pandemic providing care for vulnerable people in their homes.
The Company
A Family of unique Artists - Here to Serve You
Ann Louise Wall
Dancer, Assistant Manager, Wardrobe coordinator
Ann trained to Advanced level with Richard Slaughter in the Cecchetti Method, on The Royal Ballet School Associate Programme and for 3 years at English National Ballet School. She graduated with a Diploma in Professional Dance and the highest grade in her year for her dissertation. She won the progress prize twice and portfolio prizes for all three years of training. Whilst at school she danced in Swan Lake at The Peacock Theatre London and on tour in Manchester and Woking. She has danced at theatres including The Royal Opera House, New Wimbledon Theatre and appearing in Le Corsaire with English National Ballet. She was also a teaching assistant for the English National Ballet school’s Saturday classes for children. She holds a First class BA Hons Degree in Professional Practice in Arts (Dance) from Middlesex University.
Ann has danced with Ballet Cymru at many theatres including The Sadler’s Wells Theatre and The Wales Millennium Centre Cardiff, alongside The National Orchestra of Wales. She danced the roles of Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet and Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, She has also danced in The Nutcracker with Brecon Festival Ballet.
Since 2020 Ann is currently working as a Principal dancer and teacher for English Youth Ballet in London, touring round the UK with the classical ballets and bringing performance opportunities to young people. She has performed roles including Odette, Neapolitan and Pas de six in Swan Lake, Aurora, Princess Florine and Aunt Lilac in Sleeping Beauty, The spirit mother in Cinderella, The Mother and Flowers in The Nutcracker. She was also fortunate enough to dance alongside dancers from the Royal Ballet in a Bromley Gala event in spring 2022. She has been the host to 5 lecture demonstrations on ballet in 5 schools across the Bromley area.
She has also been involved in a number of freelance performances around London and film projects including a recent collaboration with a Kathak Dancer for the Madhuriya Arts Festival ‘Aprajita’.
Ann has a passion for ensuring everyone has access to ballet performances and has been part of The Ballet Pod since 2005, bringing ballet to theatres as well as more unlikely places. She has performed in care homes, bookshops, play groups and dance schools both in the local communities of North Wales as well as further afield in Shropshire and performed at The Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod 2018.
Ann has worked for 7 different ballet schools across London and is currently a teacher at Acton Ballet School. She is a qualified instructor of inclusive dance with Paradance UK
Ann is also holds a Diploma with Distinction in Colour Therapy from The British School of Yoga, She is a qualified First Aider and Psychological First Aider and holds a Diploma with Distinction in Sports Psychology from the School of Natural Health Sciences. She is a board member of STEPPS a charity supporting the mental health of dancers. She is a member of People Dancing and The National Association of Teachers of Dancing.
Ann has just completed an MA in professional Practice in Dance (Health and Wellbeing) with Distinction from Middlesex University alongside her work.
You can find out more about Ann on her website: www.annwalldance.com
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Esme Marie Sallnow
Singer and dancer
Esme Sallnow was born in 1989 and has been performing onstage since she was 14 under the guidance of Richard Slaughter, who trained her in the Cecchetti Method of Classical Ballet, and went on to coach her in a number of ballet roles old and new with his company New Ballet Creations, and since then The Ballet Pod. She has branched out from dance and become a freelance singer, actor, playwright and director, her numerous roles including Mary Poppins, Eliza Doolittle from My Fair Lady, and Ophelia from Hamlet. She has also performed Victorian Music Hall with The Collen Players and runs her own local Theatre Company, Punksteam Productions, with which she staged her plays Dracula and Acrophobia.
Esme has a particular love for singing and has a wide repertoire covering all eras. Throughout 2022, she had performances at 1940s events around Derby and Shropshire, with her own renditions of popular music from the era. She also makes regular appearances as Little Tramp, her much-loved clown act inspired by Charlie Chaplin’s legendary persona. She also embraces the musical legacy of Elvis, from his popular hits to his gospel music.
Alongside being a performer, Esme is a spiritual seeker and student of martial arts. She also has a passion for old and obscure films, and books in various stages of archaic delapidation.
Esme is on Instagram as Sallnow Entertainment.
Sallnow Entertainment (@sallnowentertainment) • Instagram photos and videos
Michael Wall
Dancer, musical director and director of 'Making Waves'
Michael spent his early years in London where he began his ballet training at the Royal Academy of Dance. Upon moving to Chirk, North Wales, in 2001, Michael continued training with the RAD syllabus up to Intermediate. He was a Royal Ballet school associate student in Birmingham for several years. In 2004, Michael took part in a workshop performance by Ballet Creations in Dorset, directed by Richard Slaughter, and subsequently became involved in several of the company’s projects. Michael and his sisters, also ballet dancers, received private coaching from Richard Slaughter in the Cecchetti syllabus and Michael achieved Advanced 2 with distinction.
Since the Ballet Pod’s inception in 2007, he has performed for the local community as well as in theatres across Wales. He has also danced at the 2018 Llangollen International Eisteddfod and Welsh National Eisteddfod. Michael studied a BA in dance at Chester University gaining 1st class and has also recently completed an MA in dance with Distinction. Michael is also a member of Shropshire Inclusive Dance and a qualified inclusive dance instructor with Paradance UK. He recently helped to found a North Wales inclusive dance group, Making Waves, of which he is the lead facilitator. Michael is also member of People Dancing.
He is also a musician having won a Silver Award for Grade 8 piano and studied Music Therapy under the British School of Yoga. He has played the piano for various events in the community as well as being organist for St Mary’s church in Chirk. Michael also enjoys bell ringing in the local church.
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COMPANY MANAGEMENT TEAM
Theresa Wall
Born in Cardiff, Theresa pursued a BA Hons in Religious Studies at Lancaster University and a Master of Theology at London University. She lectured in Theology and Religious Education at St. Mary’s, Strawberry Hill, during which time she was a speaker at theological conferences around the UK and in America. Theresa gained a PhD in Theology and Spiritual Development from Lancaster University. With Fr. Donal O’Leary she co-authored a book which became, and continues to be, foundational in its field – Love and Meaning in Religious Education, An Incarnational Approach to Teaching Christianity (Oxford University Press 1982). Theresa has written various articles and reviews, including work on the importance of the creative arts in personal and spiritual development. She home educated all three members of the Ballet Pod. Theresa works as the company manager and her work extends both behind the scenes and front of house.
Alan Wall
Born in Bradford, Alan holds an MA in English from Oxford University. He is a teacher, novelist, poet and songwriter, with his works published in eleven countries and translated into nine languages. He has had over 20 books published and his reviews and essays appear in numerous publications, including the Spectator, the Guardian , the Times and the Fortnightly Review. Alan has taught at Warwick University and Liverpool John Moores University as Royal Literary Fund Fellow in Writing. He is currently Professor of Literature and Creative Writing at Chester University. Alan works as part of the Ballet Pod management team front of house, and as the transport manager. His poetry and songs have been integrated into the Ballet Pod Repertoire in ‘The Ballad of Edward Owen’, a piece exploring a Welsh mining disaster.